TEXAS STATION

champs Derek Acuff & Talon Hendrickson

        Derek Acuff and Talon Hendrickson captured JBT titles in exciting action to wrap up the Mojave Conference regular season at Texas Star Lanes.

        Tough two-hander Mark Myers opened up the stepladder finals with a 231-226 win over Eric Hatchett.  Myers, who joined the 10-title club last month at Riverside, then beat 26-time winner Jakob Butturff 236-193.  In a very well-bowled semifinal match, Derek Acuff defeated Myers 237-224 to advance to the title match.

        Despite being a 15-time champ, Acuff has had a lot of titles slip through his hands recently.  Top seed Dallas Leong has had similar stepladder troubles, with not nearly enough titles yet for his level of talent.  They'll come with more performances like this; he took over this event in round four, flirting with our all-time record before settling for a whopping +462.  Acuff would not back down in the title match, though, and his tenth frame double forced Dallas to do the same to win the title.  Leong's first shot came up too light, and Acuff claimed a 228-212 win, good for the 16th title of his JBT career.

        Jason Pappas opened the eight-bowler handicap finals with a 241 game that eliminated Cerell Cardines (204) and Anthony Dang (197).  Teagan Smale, the runner-up at Riverside last month, continued his hot streak with a 250 that ousted Pappas (230) and Josh Franz (191).  Kevin Finkler then fired 250 to edge Smale (226) and California's Cameron Criss (236) to advance to the title game.

        Top seed Talon Hendrickson has had a history of fast starts to the season, but this time finished the season strong by leading here.  He was also looking for revenge, as Finkler beat Hendrickson earlier this year at Santa Fe for his first title.  This time, Talon did indeed earn that revenge, beating Kevin 214-171 for the title, the third of his career.  A very good turnout and our Station Casinos sponsorship bulked his winning haul to $430!

        Jamison Peyton had the high game of the day with the event's only 300, the first of his career.

        Washington's Correen Lieber dominated the Women's Series event, firing +201 for her first five games, then outlasting Megan Carlson 201-189 for the title, her second in two attempts in the Mojave Conference.

        Thanks as always to Jerry and the crew at Texas for a terrific job hosting an all-time Mojave Conference record 106 entries!  The field is now set for the Mojave Invitational, featuring its $1,000 top scholarship prizes.